Lmitations
by listerblossomtea
Summary: If they had anything in common, it was the obstinate belief that they had no limits.


Title: Limitations  
Disclaimer: No money is made off this work of fiction. Bleach is not mine. If it was, I would be rich and I wouldn't be writing this, now would I?  
Summary: If there was ever one thing the two had in common, it was their inability to recognize their limits.  
Pairing: ByaIchi  
Note: Companion to "Ahh… Young Love…". Unohana's POV; Prompt 45: Limits

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The war had reached a fevered pitch, and the Fourth Division had never been more full. There were times, when the hospice was full to bursting and the Fourth Division resorted to moving patients back to their division barracks, when Unohana Retsu couldn't help but long for the simpler times before the war; when Aizen was still loyal and the Shinigami's greatest fear was not whether or not the person beside them was an involuntary sleeper agent but rather what will happen if the Hollow population got too large to control. Back then, the most common visitors to the Fourth Division was the Eleventh Division and who ever was foolish enough to get into a fight with them.

Recently, however, the common visitor to the Fourth Division began to change. Despite Inoue Orihime's ability to heal, Unohana insisted on checking the children, just incase the girl, well intentioned though she was, missed something. Of course, in the beginning, the number was small, but over time, it began to swell. Recently, however, the numbers started to include a very unusual person, someone whom most of Seireitei was shocked to see standing by the bedside of one Kurosaki Ichigo. Unohana glanced through the open door of the room and covered up a smile with her hand at the sight of the room empty but for the dark haired captain, steel eyes locked with molten chocolate.

It was a classic story of love against all odds, where, as the Sotaicho would say, "A fragile blossom of love sprouted from rocky, inhospitable soil of distrust and anger." Their relationship had begun, though neither of them realized it at the time, with Kuchiki Rukia. There had been respect there, from the very beginning, Kuchiki Byakuya respected the boy's strength of will, and Kurosaki Ichigo had respected Byakuya's prowess in battle, and one did not have to like someone to respect them. When the war began, they came to a silent accord, a gentleman's alliance of sorts, at the heart of which was Kuchiki Rukia, to protect her and her interests, even at the risk of their personal well being. Over time, the mutual distaste and respect for the other's abilities began to evolve into a tentative friendship, and then into something more tender. They had danced around the subject for years, at least until Ichigo turned eighteen, and Byakuya gave him a gift beyond all price; his love.

They were the fortunate pair. With the war against Aizen, all of Soul Society was under Martial Rule, which meant the usual laws concerning interaction between humans, and that was what Ichigo was, despite his heritage and powers, and shinigami could be bent or broken altogether by the Sotaicho, who had endorsed their relationship. Other human-shinigami pairings were not so fortunate.

Of course, beside being one of the few known sanctioned human-shinigami pairings in existence, Kuchiki Byakuya and Kurosaki Ichigo were her most annoying patients. Oh, granted that they rarely came in due to injuries any more, but where one was, more often than not, so was the other, and trouble followed Ichigo like flies to honey. In addition to Ichigo's penchant for attracting trouble was that he and Byakuya shared an obstinate streak. It was this obstinate streak that caused the Fourth Division Captain the most headaches, particularly because the two refused to acknowledge that they had limits.

Yelling at them didn't help, due to their respective upbringings instilling a fierce independent streak into both men. Byakuya had been raised with the belief that there was no such thing as limits for a member of the Kuchiki Clan. In the meantime, Kurosaki Isshin subscribed to the School of Thought in which Limits were meant to be broken, and it was a school of thought that he'd instilled in his son. However, both Byakuya and Ichigo were still very young. There was tie yet for them to learn that some limits could not be broken, and who knows? Maybe one day in the future, once Aizen was defeated and life returned to some semblance of normality, maybe their beliefs would come true, and they would indeed not be confined by such a thing as limits. Until then, those who were older and wiser would watch over them, and clear away from their paths what obstacles they could. 

-

Owari


End file.
